Paying your fees

You are required to pay a deposit* when you accept your offer. The deposit should be paid within three weeks of the date of your offer letter. The deposit is non-refundable. Please see below for deposit amounts to be paid per degree programme. Your offer letter will state whether you have been assessed as a Home, Overseas or EU student for fees purposes and the amount of deposit you are required to pay.

Home Students Deposit

• MA, MArch, MDes, MEd, MFA, MRes, MPhil and PhD: £1,000
• Graduate Diploma: £2,000

Overseas and EU Students Deposit

• MA, MArch, MDes, MEd, MFA, MRes, MPhil and PhD: £2,000
• Graduate Diploma: £2,000

When you come to pay your tuition fees, the deposit already paid is deductible from the tuition fee due.

Your deposit is not reflected on your invoice but will be visible in the Applicant Portal. When making a payment of at least 50% of your fees, please deduct the amount you have already paid as a deposit from this.

* This is not applicable to applicants with a fee status of Home who are applying to study MA Architecture Part 2 and who intend to take out a tuition fee loan from Student Finance.

You will receive a notification when your Tuition fee invoice has been generated. If you have not received your invoice by 1 July 2026, please check the Applicant Portal, in case any further information is required.

We appreciate your patience while we complete the Tuition fee processing. The majority of the invoices will be issued by 1 July 2026, please do not contact us regarding your invoice before this date.

Offer holders who have accepted after this date will receive an invoice as soon as possible.

Graduate Diploma

All Graduate Diploma Art & Design students must pay the full fee in one instalment in advance of enrolment. Please note that Student Finance is not available for the Graduate Diploma course.

• September entry: fees must be paid by 1 August 2026
• January entry: fees must be paid by 1 December 2026
• May entry: fees must be paid by 1 April 2027

Self-funding Master’s, MPhil and PhD students

For MA, MArch, MDes, MEd, MFA, MRes, MPhil and PhD programmes:

If your fee status is classed as ‘Home’ and you are self-funding your studies, or your fee status is classed as ‘Overseas’, you can choose to either:

• pay your fees in full by 1 August 2026

OR:

• pay in two instalments, with a minimum of 50% of your tuition fee payable in advance of enrolment and by no later than 1 August 2026.

For first-year students, any deposit paid is deductible from the total tuition fees due.

The remaining 50% (or the balance if you pay more in the first instalment) will be due before the first day of the January term.

If your invoice is dated 2 August 2026 or later, you will be required to pay upon receipt of the invoice.

Payment in full in advance

Fees can be paid via the Applicant Portal which will link through to the College’s payment provider, Flywire. A variety of options are available within Flywire depending on the country from which you are paying. The options may include payment by a variety of credit or debit cards, bank transfer and e-payment methods. These will be priced in your local currency and include charges. Detailed information for this can be found within the Flywire help information.

Payment by instalments

For MA, MRes, MPhil, MFA, MDes, MArch and PhD programmes we also provide an option for you to pay in two instalments:

• A minimum of 50% of your fees is payable in advance of enrolment and by no later than 1 August 2026.
• The remaining 50% (or the balance if you pay more in the first instalment) will be due before the first day of the January term.
• This option is not available to Graduate Diploma students.

Second instalment and the RCA Student Portal

If you are paying in two instalments, please be aware that the second payment will have to be made via the Student Portal. This will be available to you once you have completed enrolment, after which you will be sent full instructions on how to access the Student Portal. In the portal you will be able to see your full financial account and transactions. You will also be able to check your personal details.

Home students who are taking out a loan from Student Finance

Undergraduate tuition fee loan (MA Architecture students only):

If your fee status is classed by RCA as ‘Home’ and you are taking out the undergraduate tuition fee loan in full from the Student Loans Company (SLC), you will not be required to make any fee payments and can enrol once your loan has been approved, subject to meeting all other conditions of enrolment. If your loan is not approved by 28 August 2026, please email [email protected] confirming on what date you applied for your loan.

Postgraduate Loan or Doctoral Loan

If your fee status is classed by RCA as ‘Home’ and you are taking out a Postgraduate Loan or Doctoral Loan, you can pay your tuition fees in three equal instalments in line with your loan payments (September, January and May). You can enrol once your loan has been approved, subject to meeting all other conditions of enrolment, and we will confirm your enrolment with the SLC in order to trigger the first instalment payment to you.

You must be enrolled a minimum of five working days before the start of term to facilitate SLC paying you your first loan instalment as close to the start of term as possible. If your loan is not approved by this date please email [email protected]. Those enrolling later should allow up to an additional ten working days to receive the first instalment.

Please be aware your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan will not cover the full cost of your fees and so you will need other funds to make up the shortfall. Please see the Key facts on the Postgraduate Loan and Key facts on the Doctoral Loan.

If you are relying on your loan to pay your tuition fees and your loan is not approved by Friday 21 August 2026, please email [email protected], explaining that you are unable to enrol and confirming on what date you applied for your loan. We will then look into this and get back to you.

Flywire payment portal

The RCA has partnered with Flywire and fees must be paid online using Flywire’s payment portal. For self-financed fees, the RCA has no other method by which fees can be paid.

Watch a video about making a payment with Flywire.

New students

You will need to pay your invoice through the Applicant Portal, which links with our payment provider, Flywire.

Continuing students

You will need to pay your invoice through the Student Portal, which links with our payment provider, Flywire.

Important Information:

It is important you explore and understand the best way for you to pay your fees via Flywire as different charges may apply. Please see the following information:

• Flywire’s Terms of Use (Flywire website)
• Information about bank transfers: Bank Transfers – Flywire
• Information about card payments: Card Payments – Flywire
• Information on currency and exchange rates: Rates and Fees – Flywire

We strongly recommend that you avoid converting your local currency into GBP and loading it on to a credit card issued outside of the UK. Instead, use either of these options:

• Convert and deposit your GBP funds into an accessible bank account where you can make your payment to the RCA via an international bank transfer through Flywire
• Make your payment using one of the alternative local currency options provided on Flywire

Watch a video about international bank transfers with Flywire.

Flywire staff are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and can help you in your preferred language.

As part of the student visa application process, you must show you have enough funds to cover your tuition fees and living expenses. If you have already submitted your visa application and are waiting for a decision, we recommend any funds from the bank account you are using as evidence for your visa application be maintained in the account.

If you are worried about paying your tuition while waiting for your visa decision, you can wait until your visa has been granted before paying your fees.

If you have any other questions related to your invoice please raise a query via the Applicant Portal.

RCA scholarships will be reflected on the portal as soon as possible. Until the portal is updated, please deduct the awarded amount from the total tuition fee amount owing when making your payment.

• If you have any queries regarding making the fee payment itself, please contact Flywire via the Applicant Portal.
• If you have any concerns or questions about your fees or invoice amount, please email: [email protected].
• If your funding is being provided by an external sponsorship (by which we mean an agreement between you and your sponsor, not between the sponsor and the RCA, which might include an external scholarship, bursary or company sponsorship), please follow the pre-enrolment instructions on the Applicant Portal which explains how to declare this.

We offer a discount on fees if you progress from one RCA programme to another, with no time constraint on the date of award of your previous degree.

For 2026/27 entry:

• Students progressing to an MA from Graduate Diploma: a £1,000 fee reduction (£1,000 fee reduction per year for two-year full-time MA programmes and £500 per year for part-time study).
• Students progressing to an MArch, MFA, MDes, MEd or MRes from an MA or MA/MSc: a £2,000 fee reduction (£1,000 per year for part-time study).
• Students progressing to Postgraduate Research (PhD or MPhil) from MA, MA/MSc, MArch, MFA, MDes, MRes or MEd: a £1,000 fee reduction per year (£500 per year for part-time study).
• For Postgraduate Research, if you change from full-time registration to part-time (or vice versa), then the fee reduction will be re-calculated and the maximum discount period is six years (excluding authorised leave of absence).

For Postgraduate Research, if you change from full-time registration to part-time (or vice versa), then the fee reduction will be re-calculated and the maximum discount period is six years (excluding authorised leave of absence).

If you are a UK student receiving Student Finance from the Student Loans Company:

• We will confirm your registration to Student Finance, once you are fully enrolled at the RCA.
• You must be enrolled before the end of Friday 28 August 2026 to ensure you will receive your first instalment on 7 September 2026.
• If enrolling after 28 August 2026, you should allow up to an additional ten working days to receive the first instalment.

If you are a UK student receiving a Postgraduate Loan or Doctoral Loan: **

** Please note: Graduate Diploma students are not eligible for Student Finance loans.

Students applying for a Postgraduate or Doctoral Loan from Student Finance England will still need to pay the fees themselves, as they will receive the money directly from Student Finance England.

• You can pay your fee in three instalments in line with your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan payments (i.e. September 2026, January 2027 and May 2027).
• This means you can be enrolled (subject to the other enrolment conditions being met) and then pay your first instalment in September 2026.
• Please be aware your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan will not cover the full cost of your fees and so you will need other funds to make up the shortfall.
• You will be able to apply for your Student Finance from 22 June 2026.

If you are a UK student studying MA Architecture (Part 2):

Home students studying MA Architecture (Part 2) may be eligible to apply for a fee loan to cover their fees. If you have an approved fee loan in place at the point of enrolment which covers your full fees, you will be enrolled and you will not be required to make any fee payments. You will be able to apply for your Student Finance from March 2026.

Terms and Conditions, as well as other student policies, can be found at Student policies, procedures and regulations.